Cedric Diggory, After the Tournament
by Ayleeandra
Summary: Hi there, Im new at fanfic so please be gentle? There will be spelling errors (hey, I've re-written this three times now! I still have algebra to do) I made this story because I wanted Cedric to have some sort of final say in what happened. You can't ju


  
  
  
All right now, this is my first fanfic, yey! I finally quit being lazy and got it all typed! I wrote it while sleeping over at a friends house, two of my friends were creating this TV show and wanted me to tell them what I thought and so while they created characters, I wrote (while I was hyped off of a mixture of Mountain Dew & Tahitian Treat) so its not that long, and not that detailed but hey, its my first.   
  
The regular disclaimer is as follows: Except for Madame Mimms, Lady Gretchen's, Yanus Yavoritzky, Heinz Katcacauff and Miles Brakefield I own nothing. The Diggorys, the Potters, the Weasleys, Cho Chang, Voldemort, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Bertha Jorkins, Frank Bryce, Fleur & Gabrielle Delacour, the mermaid in the Prefect's boys bathroom and everyone else all belong to the greatest witch of all: Ms. J.K. Rowling   
  
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As most of you know (or I hope you do at least) I, Cedric Kenneth Diggory of Hufflepuff House am dead. It's odd being dead, it's similar to being alive only there are more adults than kids. You still have school, Madame Mimms Professional School of Haunting or Lady Gretchen's School for Beginning Haunters are two of the most widely known schools, so you still have homework and you still make friends but no one is living.   
  
You can still get injured playing Quidditch (apparently Quidditch is the same dead or not) but you can't grow old without wanting to. Another thing that is highly prized by all ghosts who were murdered, is their tale of death, and mine is no exception. It is as famous as Harry Potter's is in the living world, and for those of you who don't know mine, that's why I am here to tell it. So sit back, relax, and grab a butter beer because you are going to hear about how I died, and what it signified for all wizarding kind.   
  
I was so happy when I found out that I would be 'fighting' for Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament, but I was also angry when I found out Harry Potter had somehow managed to get into it also. I however paid enough attention to Harry and his predicament with his friends that when the time came and he told me the first test would be Dragons, I could believe him. Sortive.   
  
To be truthful, I seriously don't know how the Swedish short-snout didn't manage to kill me, but thanks to the advance warning, I gained a little more life. So it only seemed fair that I hint him about the golden egg. The mermaid in the Prefect's boys bathroom teased me almost an hour before I managed to figure out to hold the dratted egg under the water.   
  
Harry was also very loyal to his friends; he stayed in the water with Ron, Hermione and Gabrielle even after I left with Cho. He helped Krum get Hermione away, no surprise there, then, placing last in the challenge, water dripping from him and Ron, both probably with hypothermia, Harry drug himself, his "most prized possession" and Fleur's little sister out of the water.  
  
Fleur had been shrieking trying to get back into the water and Percy Weasley looked like he was going to die (to be truthful, McGonagall looked close to hysterics herself) when Harry came out of the water. He should have gotten extra points just for getting the Gillyweed (which is incredibly hard to come by and probably had to be taken from Snape's private stores).   
  
I never really thought to make it to the third challenge, but I did and Harry tried, out of honor, to get me to take it. Of course I wouldn't take it, we both made it to the center of the maze and we both put in the same amount of work, but I did owe him for the dragon thing, and I wouldn't have told him anything about the egg if it hadn't been for that.   
  
All I remember is touching the cup, a portkey-ish feeling and then a voice and finally what felt like someone gently pushing me backwards. A floating feeling engulfed me and I was standing in this hazy gray place, like the inside of a cloud and was starting to get confused when a woman with flaming red hair stood next to me. I would have thought she was a Weasley but her eyes were exactly like Harry's.   
  
A man, with black hair that looked like it had never been combed (again, like Harry's) was also there, and then we were joined by a youngish looking witch and an old man who looked like a muggle.   
  
I was confused till the redhead--Harry's mum I realized--nudged me towards a golden thread that was singing.   
  
I touched it, and felt myself swirl downwards then, like toothpaste from a tube, was squeezed from something till I hit the ground.  
  
I looked up and was amazed at the dome overhead. It looked like a singing, golden, spider web, shielding myself, Harry and a sweating, dark-haired, red-eyed, pasty pale, very angry looking man. The name came unbidden to my mind as I thought about who this evil person was. Voldemort.  
  
Harry stood in front of me, half braced against a gravestone, his arm horribly bloody. His leg looked odd and he seemed to be favoring it, he was as pasty white and sweaty as Voldemort.  
  
I crawled up from the ground wondering what had happened when I saw my lifeless body lying on the ground. I stared, almost not realizing what this meant, put it out of your mind Cedric! I ordered myself sternly, Deal with it later! You're here to help Harry!   
  
That thought held presence in all of my mind for about three seconds, till I realized something, "Harry! Please, bring my body back to my mum and dad?" I don't know if he heard, or even comprehended but it was worth a try.   
  
I turned and faced Voldemort. He was alone, his Death Eaters couldn't do anything, he was helpless against four dead people and an injured, teenage boy half his size. When Lily Potter finished coming out of Voldemort's wand I knew that all we had to do was scare him.  
  
Voldemort, All-Mighty-Scary-You-Know-Who-He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-Voldemort, was scared of Death.  
  
I don't know how I knew it, but I did, and some vague, living part of me wondered idly, What happens when he meets a boggart?  
  
The Potters, the old muggle man, the youngish witch and myself all converged on Voldemort. Our gray, ghostly bodies glided over to him and became his worst fear. Death.  
  
Not the skeleton hands and cowls that fill muggle knowledge, but the angry spirits that once held a place in the living, and disliked not holding it anymore. Mr. Potter looked at me, nodded then yelled "Now!"  
  
Behind me, Harry jerked his wand upward, the song died and the web crashed. I felt him take hold of my body's arm even as he was dodging curses being thrown at him. I felt, in my mind somewhere, him grab hold of the portkey-cup and vanish even as I lunged at Voldemort.  
  
"I'll haunt your dreams from now until the end of eternity if you ever come near Harry, Hogwarts or my family." Mrs. Potter hissed, looking very much like an angry lioness.  
  
We all lunged at Voldemort, but something silvery engulfed us and drew us upwards. I panicked but the old man touched my arm and murmured "you'll be okay". I wasn't feeling okay, my life had been ripped away from me, but I chose to trust him. After all, who'd been dead longer?  
  
I landed, (odd because I felt like I was going up) on the greenest grass that could have ever existed and looked around, suddenly gasping in delight when I noticed the biggest Quidditch stadium that had ever been built.  
  
Mr. Potter who had looked angry enough to rip off someone's head visibly brightened at the sight of the stadium. Mrs. Potter however looked like she had just been through Potions class for a full day. The youngish looking witch was comforting her, "you gave him a threat and a scare he'll not forget any time soon, try and be happy with that?"  
  
Mrs. Potter sighed and flicked her fingers at Mr. Potter, who as growing impatient by the second, and took me firmly by the arm.  
  
"We're going to our Pool of Sight, your relatives have been contacted and are coming to see you."  
  
I nodded, "what is a 'Pool of Sight'"? I asked as she started to lead me down a dirt path, rather quickly I noticed. Mrs. Potter smiled a kind smile at me and said softly "Cedric, I'm sorry, this normally isn't the way things happen around here. You are in the afterlife, as I suppose you have guessed. Everyone who is dead has a 'Pool of Sight'. It allows you to watch your loved ones, to stay up to date on things in the living world.  
  
I nodded. Instinctively, I knew that I should be panicked, but I was safe with Harry's Mum and Dad.  
  
They led me to a neat cottage, Mr. Potter threw himself through the door (literally) he was in such a hurry. Mr. and Mrs. Potter led me to what looked like a bowl of water, only this liquid glowed golden, like the baby unicorns Hagrid showed us in Care of Magical Creatures.  
  
"Show me Harry!" Mr. Potter cried at the bowl.  
  
I watched as the liquid fogged up then turned into a clear image of Harry being spoken to by a very deranged looking Professor Moody.   
  
Mrs. Potter started crying "No! Please! Not Harry! Let him live...please?" She was pleading with the bowl, crying into it, Mr. Potter looked murderous again.  
  
I watched (strangely like looking through a window), as the fake Alastor Moody tried to kill Harry, as Dumbledore blew in the door, as Barty Crouch Jr. explained very calmly in a truth-serum drugged state every thing he was hoping to accomplish and told of how he managed to escape Azkaban and kill his father.  
  
We went to my parents then. They were in Professor Sprout's messy, plant and sunlight filled office, alternately crying and cursing. I watched everything that happened at Hogwarts, everyone at Hogwarts till the end of the year. Remember, ghosts don't need sleep.  
  
I guess I adjusted to being dead pretty well. Being dead couldn't compare with living, unless you were playing Quidditch.  
  
Games could last centuries because of the snitch. In the afterlife, it was five times faster than in the normal life, and three teams played at once, all against each other.  
  
I adjusted fairly quickly and spent a couple months playing against Yanus Yavoritzky and Heinz Katcacauff, two of the founders of Quidditch.  
  
I finally asked my grandmother (who died in my fifth year at Hogwarts) if I could send messages to my family or friends.   
  
She said yes.  
  
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Harry sighed and tried to get back to sleep, he lay awake a long time till he finally did.   
  
He found himself in a cloudy area, a dazed looking Cho Chang was nearby and Harry wondered if this were a dream that his subcontious was trying to reward him with for not blowing Aunt Marge up (again) when she came to visit earlier today.  
  
But soon Mr. and Mrs. Diggory were there too, both dressed for bed and looking about as dazed as Cho. Mr. Diggory in boxers and a white t-shirt and Mrs. Diggory in a nightgown that resembled Cho's. Harry looked down, yup, he was dressed, boxers and the t-shirt he went to bed in. Now where was he?  
  
As if on cue, Cedric materialized out of the clouds in front of him and Harry knew what would happen, nightmares like this always ended up with someone turning into Voldemort and blowing everyone up and scaring Harry into sleepless nights.   
  
His heart clenched and without thinking he dropped to his knees, not wanting to watch Voldemort kill Cedric again.   
  
Only this dream was different, was Cedric talking to him? That was odd, he never talked, just waved and got killed. Harry's ear's opened up and heard Cedric's yells. "Harry! Get up! Its not your fault you stubborn lion! We tied, and personally I like what you did with the prize money. I don't blame you! Harry listen to me! You have to fight Voldemort--" Harry looked up at the name most were afraid to say and saw Cedric's eyes sparkling brightly "--fight him and never give up! Never"  
  
Cedric looked at his parents, "Mum, Dad, I love you, I know you love me and are proud of me, I hear you when you say my name. Grams is taking care of me and Mr. and Mrs. Potter brought me to the biggest Quidditch stadium you've ever seen, I played with Yavoritzky, Katcacauff and Miles Brakefield! Be happy! We're watching you, we love you, I love you."   
  
He turned back to Harry "You've the most amazing parents, thanks Harry, and they watch over you, they send their love to you, Mr. Black, Professor Lupin, all the Professors at Hogwarts, all of the old Gryffindors and respect and gratitude to Professor Snape. Got it all?" He asked with a grin, Harry couldn't help but grin back.  
  
Cedric turned to Cho, "Go on with your life, I was very lucky to have had you, but make another guy happy, believe me Lady of Ravenclaw, you will always be remembered. Your Grandparents send their love." Cho stared, speechless and silently crying.  
  
Cedric sighed, as if he had completed something, then waved brightly and shouted: "Bye now! Send all my hugs and friendship and love to the Hufflepuffs! Love you all! Take Care! Long live Hogwarts!"  
  
The entire world went black and Harry sat bolt upright in bed. "Thanks Cedric." Then reverently echoed the last words of a dead hero, "Long live Hogwarts."  
  
  
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